Psychoanalysis in the Meantime

ABSTRACT

This paper describes the psychic toll the migratory, humanitarian crisis is exacting on the self (and its sacred core) of displaced people worldwide, specifically young children and adolescents, who are currently being held in transit camps. The sacred core is Winnicott’s elaboration of the true self and that which is most deeply personal and private, and “most worthy of preservation”. For exiles held in detention, the self and its core are in urgent need of protection and recognition, as they struggle to exist in what I refer to as The Meantime. The Meantime is when migratory mourning stretches to infinity, resulting in extreme dissociation, or depersonalization, that becomes a collective way of life that destroys reality and the self. In order for the self and reality to survive The Meantime, relationships with “need mediating subjects,” whom I call The Responsibles, must be created.

This article is referred to by:

Discussion of “Psychoanalysis in the Meantime”

Psychic and Political Dimensions of Displacement: A Dialogue with A Social Science Perspective

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Lisa C. Beritzhoff

Lisa C. Beritzhoff, M.F.T., is a psychoanalyst currently practicing in San Francisco, CA. She works with adolescents and adults. She is Faculty at the Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California. She works as a consultant to and volunteers with Refugee Education And Learning, an NGO dedicated to supporting unaccompanied children held in Camp Moria, a transit camp on the island of Lesvos, Greece.